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Mass Shooting at Sikh Temple in Wisconsin

A Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, was attacked on Sunday shortly after mass ended. A man opened fire on as many as 30 people. Seven people are dead, one of them being the shooter. The gunman reportedly held hostages inside until SWAT teams entered the building and were able to get people free. Witnesses claimed to see more than one shooter.

Original: There's a hostage situation at the scene of a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin right now. Between two and four gunmen opened fire on the temple Sunday afternoon, and reports are saying there's currently children being held hostage in the basement of the church.

NBC affiliate TMJ4 reports at least four people were shot outside when the attackers initially opened fire on the church. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports children were being held inside the temple by two of the shooters. A priest was communicating with officials from inside a locked bathroom using his cell phone while police surrounded the building. SWAT teams descended upon the church and extracted as many victims as they could. Local radio stations are reporting up to 30 people have been injured so far, and that there were gunshots and an explosion heard inside the church when the SWAT teams entered the building. The first officer who responded to the call was shot multiple times, but is expected to survive. One of the shooters was "put down" by police outside of the church, CNN reports. There's very little known about the shooters so far. Witnesses believe there was more than one, and they were white males. The media's been directed to not show aerial shots of the grounds so they don't give away tactical information.

Update 4:54 p.m.:Mother Jones has a good barebones account of everything we know so far. The chief of police delayed a second media briefing. Andrew Kaczynski tweeted this Oak Creek Patch story about the Sikh community being threatened in the past. Obama and Romney have both issued statements on the shooting. There's no new information on the shooter(s).

Update 5:39 p.m.: The chief of police said he expects the responding officer who was shot to make a full recovery during the second media briefing. "We believe it was one (gunman), but I can't be sure," he said. The FBI is handling the investigation and they're calling the attack "domestic terrorism." CNN is reporting two semi-automatic handguns were recovered from the scene. There won't be another update from law enforcement until 10 a.m. Monday morning.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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Connor Simpson is a former staff writer for The Wire. His work has appeared in Business Insider and City Lab.